A problem that athletes who "do laps," i.e., run laps around a closed loop running track or swim back and forth in a swimming pool, have is that they lose track of the lap count.
In accordance with the present invention, a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver is used in an electronic lap counter. The lap counter increments the lap count upon "observing" via the GPS receiver that the user, having gone away from an initial "start" location (e.g., an end of a pool or the start line of a closed loop running track), has returned to that location. A user-supplied indication, such as the pressing of a push button, serves as an indication to the lap counter that the lap counter's then current location is to be used as the start location.
GPS receivers currently available commercially are sufficiently compact that the inventive lap counter can be contained in a housing that may be, for example, carried in a pocket or "fanny pack," or the like, or is strapped onto a belt. However, in the not-too-distant future the size of GPS receivers may well become such that the inventive lap counter can be contained within a wristwatch-like housing or, indeed, could be incorporated into a multi-function watch/lap counter product.